Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2010 – A missing persons report was filed last night by the family of John M. Eischens Jr. of Mabank, TX, a former Arrow driver.

The family reportedly has not heard from the trucker since before Christmas, when the Tulsa-based motor carrier suddenly shut down operations and stranded nearly a thousand drivers on the road.

As volunteers were trying to locate those drivers and get them home or to a safe place, the driver of truck number 6325 emerged “unaccounted for.” After two weeks, he remains missing.

According to Iowa driver Eric Mende, a volunteer working to help stranded drivers, Qualcomm reported no activity on the truck that Eischens was driving for Arrow. Mende said the “last ping was to a tower in the Butte, MT, area.” Mende began calling truck stops in the area and that’s how he found truck number 6325 abandoned at the Pilot in Butte, with keys in it.

Mende told Land Line Magazine that he asked the Pilot security guard to check the lot. The guard found the Arrow truck and reported that the driver’s belongings were gone. The guard told Mende the truck had been there since Dec. 25. There was no sign of Eischens.

Volunteers who have talked to Eischens’ family in Texas report that his mother is worried that he’s not contacted them for several weeks and “it’s not like him to fail to call on Christmas.”

Det. Steve Williams of the Anna Police Department told Land Line that the report was filed last night and going “into the system” Wednesday morning. Williams said because it was a new investigation, details were not available.

If anyone has information on whereabouts of Eischens, please call Det. Williams of the Anna, TX, Police Department. The office phone is 972-924-2848; after 5 p.m. calls will be handled by dispatch at 972-547-5350.